Off the Wall 3.27.08

During a March 19 Nueces County Commissioners Court meeting, county leaders went into executive session to discuss an agenda item that dealt with tax abatements.

After about an hour, commissioners returned to their respective seats and court was called back into session. While County Judge Loyd Neal began to speak on the next item on the regular agenda, a rustling sound began to drown out Neal's voice.

Members of the commissioners court looked around for the source and quickly found it. The small foam cover of the Precinct 1 Commissioner Peggy Banales's microphone had mysteriously been removed somehow and now she was trying to reattach it, causing the noise that had stopped the Neal's word flow.

The county judge merely chuckled as he and the rest of the court watched the Precinct 1 Commissioner struggle with the cover to her microphone.

"It sounds like a weather system is coming through," Neal said as attendees of the meeting laughed.

Word jumble

Towards the tail-end of the meeting, commissioners were in the process of making various Nueces County board appointments when Neal ran into a bit of a roadblock. That obstacle came in the form of the last name of one of the applicants, Jami Mari Skornia, for the Nueces County Child Welfare board.

"Boy, I'm having trouble with that name," Neal said as some members of the court laughed.

Executive assistant to the county judge, Tyner Little, who was speaking to the court about the board appointments, informed Neal that the correct pronunciation was "Score-knee-uh."

Quick to respond, Neal said, "I knew there was a reason we had you, Tyner," as a burst of approving laughter erupted around the courtroom.

Skornia, a new appointment to the Child Welfare board, was approved by the commissioners court.

"Off the Wall" is compiled from various public meetings from around Nueces County. News Editor Tim Olmeda contributed to this report.